Beyond the Goblin City
by Draco's Addiction
Summary: What exactly did Sara mean in the end when she said, I need you. Every now and again in my life, for no reason at all, I need you. All of you. Did that refer to Jareth as well? SaraJareth


Summary: What exactly did Sara mean in the end when she said, "I need you. Every now and again in my life, for no reason at all, I need you. All of you." Did that refer to Jarreth as well?

Pairing: Sara/Jarreth

Rating: R ( -- for bad song lyrics)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. I'm just using them for my own sick and twisted purposes. The song belongs to Jonathan Davis.

Feedback: Pweaze?

Sara gazed into the mirror, pleading eyes looking at the figure that appeared to be behind her.

"I need you, Hoggle."

"You do?"

"Yes. Every now and again in my life, for no reason at all, I need you. All of you."

"Well, then, why didn't you say so?"

Sara's face broke into a bright smile as she turned around to find everyone she had met on her journey standing in her bedroom. She was rushed with excitement as she hugged and greeted them all. Everybody was there...

..Except one.

She quickly pushed back her disappointment as she silently thought to herself, 'He'll never want to see me again, I defeated him.' She was still very happy to know that she could call on her friends whenever she needed company in her life. Friends from the most wonderful, and slightly bazaar, adventure of her life.

Jerreth sat beyond Sara's window, watching the festivities within. He saw Sara's face light up as she once again saw the creatures of his world. Watching her happy again.

Using the visage of the owl, he went unnoticed by the inhabitants. This was the easiest way that he could look upon her face once again. Like her stories, it was true that he had fallen for her. Fallen deeply in love with a mortal. A mortal teenager, nonetheless. He knew it was foolish, but his heart broke at the thought. of never having her. It broke at the fact that he had crushed his one and only chance to have her for his own.

"All you have to do is call my name," he whispered as the wind rustled the leaves of the tree outside his love's window. With one more longing look, he took flight and left her behind. Perhaps forever.

Sara was so distracted by the hugs and chatter of her new friends that she almost missed a flash of white feathers depart from her window. Almost.

At the present moment, she was engulfed in a master bear hug of sorts with Ludo and couldn't escape quite quick enough. In the back of her mind she knew who it was that was out her window that night keeping silent vigil of her. She also somehow knew that it probably would be the last time she might see the figure of that white owl. She didn't quite know what to think of that. Part of her felt that it was the best, that he had kidnapped her little brother and she never wanted anything to do with him ever again. Yet, there was another part that expected…… no, _hoped_ that she would.

In their last encounter, she had suddenly felt something from him that she didn't want to feel. She thought the fact that her adventure had sprung directly from one of her books was just some sick joke. But when Jarreth had gazed into her eyes and asked her to love him, she could se that he wasn't joking. He had fallen for her. But she pushed it aside. She pushed it aside for the life of her brother.

Talking and laughter from the Fur Gang broke her from her revelry. They were taking each other's heads off and playing catch again. She had to laugh at this and therefore pushed thoughts of him away again, but not before she got one last thought out to him.

"Maybe someday."

5 YEARS LATER

"You really should get out more, Sara."

How many times had she heard this? First from her stepmother, then her college roommate and now her best friend whom she shared an apartment with. She knew it was true, but she didn't feel like going out much. At least, that's the excuse she gave to everyone.

"Yeah, so I've heard. But I've got a lot of work to do."

"Work? Sara, honey, you're a writer! You can stop and start anytime you like, you don't have to clock in and out like the rest of us common folk."

Over the past couple of years she had managed to publish several books about her adventures in the Labyrinth and the Goblin City. Her first, Labyrinth, was the actual story, but most of the others were just fictions created from the ideas that her friends had given her. She hadn't seen them in a while, but every now and again she would just need someone to talk to or to just be with.

She was currently working on the latest volume in the series, The Goblin King. She didn't know what had inspired her to start writing it but when her publisher asked, she had simply said that she thought that the readers should know what happened to him.

She was doing good at first, but now she just couldn't find a good ending. She wracked her brain but still it produced nothing.

Her friends had urged her to go out and have some fun, but something was holding her back. The feeling that she was very close to something was plaguing her. But what she was close to, she didn't know.

"Well, we're going to the club, you know where it is if you _finally_ decide to join us," her friend, a little impatient now, said as she put on her coat and grabbed her keys.

Sara gave her an evil smile, "Even if I did decide to go with you guys, the first place I go will not be to a place called, "The Meat Locker." She had heard rumors about that place. She didn't believe any of them but she was just giving her friend a hard time.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. You know where I am. I have my cell phone, I'll be back around 2 or something," she rushed out in a hurry, then closed the door as she left. Sara chuckled and went back to her ham sandwich. 'My pathetic ham sandwich' she thought to herself as she took the last bite. She made a trek back to her room and gazed at her book shelf. The books she had when she was younger that were now collecting a record breaking layer of dust. They always remind her of the past.

Going over to her stereo, she put on the one song that came to her mind at the thought of her past and the man who had taken her away from it all for a short time. Swaying back and forth, she closed her eyes and let herself get lost in the music.

She turned toward the living room, having the intention of putting in a movie and then going to bed early. As she crossed the doorway to the hall she whispered to no one in particular, "What happened to you, Jerreth?"

"Sara"

She stopped in her tracks. That voice. She knew that voice. It had made itself known in her dreams sometimes.

"Jerreth."

She whirled around to see the figure she had not seen for five years. He stood in her room where she had been roaming only second before. He looked as if he hadn't changed a bit. He was still lean and tall and his eyes looked exactly the same as she had last seen them, pleading with her soul every time she looked into them.

Jerreth was amazed at what he saw. The teenager whom he had given his heart to had grown into this stunning creature who stood before him. Her face hadn't changed. She still had the youthful beauty behind her eyes and around her delicate mouth. She had cut her hair a little shorter than he remembered but he supposed this was the fashion of the era. After all these years, the sight of her now captivated him just the same as it had the very first time.

"What are you doing here?" She started to back away from him, down the hall, eyes never leaving his.

He looked hurt. He put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "You have no reason to fear me, Sara. Not anymore. I came only because you called for me."

"Called? Oh, that. Sorry. It was sort of a rhetorical question to no one."

There was silence after that except for the blare of music from behind where they stood. Jerreth listened to the lyrics carefully. A sad expression crossed his face and he turned away from her as if he was ashamed. Sara trotted around him and cut off the stereo. When she turned around, he was facing away from her.

"How is Toby?"

"He's fine. He turned six last week."

"Sara. I'm sorry. It's too late to ask forgiveness, I know, but just know that I am sorry. For everything I put you through. All these years I've just been sitting in the Labyrinth, among the goblins and creatures and all I can think of is you. My thoughts are always of you. I'm haunted by your face each day and by the way you were hurt by me at night. I made a promise that all you had to do was call my name and I would return. After a few years I had almost given up and there was a hole in my heart that grew by each passing sun. Every time the clock strikes thirteen, I can think of nothing but you and the things I've done." This speech came out of nowhere, but it was sincere. She could tell by his words that a great burden had been lifted from him, that he had been waiting to speak to her for years.

She walked toward him. He slowly turned around to face her. Their eyes locked and Sara felt her insides melt at the look of sincerity and guilt in his eyes.

"I've thought of you, too. Whenever Toby wants to read one of my books I can't help but think of you. I thought that if I wrote some of the things down that they would leave but it just seems to be worse. People ask me where my ideas come from and it all comes flooding back. I do forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago, but I couldn't tell you because I never knew how to find you again. If I knew, I would have told you sooner that..." she stopped her rambling, noticing that she was about to say something that she had not even admitted to herself. She looked into his eyes and said the words that she had said to no one, not even herself. It was just an idea in her mind, but seeing him again and listening to his love had stirred something in her that she knew had always been there.

"...that I love you."

He looked shocked, uncertain, surprised. He raised his hand to her face, lightly grazing his fingers over her cheek. He took a hesitant step forward until they were barely touching. Their eyes never moved from one another's. As he leaned down slowly, she let her eyes fall shut as she felt the first gentle touch of his lips on hers. They wrapped their arms around one another and continued the tentative, almost, but not quite, chaste kiss.

"Hey, Sara, I forgot my purse, have you seen it lying arou-- Woah..." Her roommate stopped dead in her tracks, having stumbled upon Sara kissing some guy that she had never seen. "Sorry I interrupted." Sara and Jerreth stepped apart, slightly embarrassed at the intrusion. Sara's roommate looked Jerreth up and down approvingly. "Now I get why you never come out with us. Naughty Sara. Well I guess I'll get introductions later." She gave an accusing look to Sara for having not been informed about the new "special guy friend" and left rather quickly with a wave of a hand and a short, "Nice to meet you. Bye." to the general direction of Jerreth.

After the initial embarrassing moment had passed and they had both resisted the urge to laugh, and both failing miserably, they retreated to Sara's room and were talking aimlessly of nothing at all. Jerreth was snooping around her room and stumbled on her book shelf where he noticed books with such titles as Labyrinth, Hoggle's Quest, Ludo and Sir Ditimus: Brothers, The Fur Gang, and Beyond the Goblin City. He noticed that she was the author of them all.

Smiling, he picked up Labyrinth and tossed it to her. She was lying on the bed watching him move throughout to room. She caught the book and smiled back.

"One day, I shall have to read all of these so I can know how you really feel about our little adventure." He sidled up to the bed and lay down facing her.

"Well, that's not all of them. There's one more that needs some adjusting. And I think I know the perfect ending."

And they lived happily ever after.


End file.
